Nitish Kumar hails re-election of Rajnath Singh, says he is an experienced leader

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Last Updated: Wed, Jan 23, 2013 09:40 hrs

Bihar chief Minister Nitish Kumar today hailed the re-election of senior leader of Bharatiya Janata Party Rajnath Singh for the post of president, terming him as a vastly experienced politician.

Singh on Wednesday was elected as the president of the BJP after incumbent Nitin Gadkari pulled out of the race.

Kumar congratulated Singh and said that he is an experienced leader.

"Rajnath Singh is an experienced leader and he has earlier been the national president of BJP. He had also been a minister in the centre and also the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh. He has been in politics for a long time. We congratulate him for becoming the president of BJP," said Kumar.

Singh has been elected unopposed for a two-year term till 2015.

Singh, who was also party president between 2006 and 2009, was seen as a consensus candidate after media reports said some party leaders had raised objections to Gadkari, who is facing allegations of corruption.

"If the interior minister had evidence then he should have conducted an enquiry. This statement indicates ignorance and such statements send across wrong message in the society. The responsibility and the position upheld by the interior minister is significant. He is just not a leader of Congress party but he is also interior minister of the country," he added.

Earlier on Sunday (January 20), Shinde said that the BJP and its parent body, the Hindu radical group Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), were recruiting and training Hindu militants.

However, later changing his stance, Sushilkumar Shinde clarified that he only quoted newspaper reports to point out growing incidents of saffron militancy in the country. (ANI)